1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for finding and selecting products, services, or other items according to a set of target preferences.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The rapid expansion of the Internet and use of the World Wide Web has given rise to numerous tools to help people find what they are looking for. Search engines provide ways to help people find web pages with relevant information. Online stores often provide internal search and parametric search facilities to help customers find products with desired feature values. Unlike human sales staff in physical “brick-and-mortar” stores, few of these sites provide interactive personalized guidance to customers in selecting the products or services that will best meet their needs. Those interactive guides that exist do not provide personalized explanations of the advice so that users can understand the basis of recommendations. In recent years, the internet has exploded with numerous sites that provide information, sell products, and other services. Many websites have emerged to help “guide” users on the internet among the various websites. Many of these websites or “search engines” generally will help lead you to websites that contain information about subjects or items in which one is interested. Unfortunately, they generally do not organize, compare or rate different items within a subject. Thus, users may be forced to spend long hours “surfing” the web in order to gather information about different items.
Thus, there is a need for recommendations.